AND EXPERIMENT STATION. 143 



planted. The roots of trees and shrubs should never be allowed 

 to dry. If but few trees are set they can be well mulched, but 

 in large orchards thorough cultivation is cheaper than mulching 

 and answers the same purpose. 



SMALL FRUlTvS. 



THE STRAWBERRY. This delicious fruit can be grown in 

 any part of Dakota where there is sufficient water supply to en- 

 able it to perfect its fruit. At the the Station the plants grow 

 very well, but during the past two years the weather has been 

 very unfavorable and the crop of fruit has been small. 



WHAT is MEANT BY PERFECT AND IMPERFECT VARIET 

 An examination of the open blossom of Wilson's Albany or 

 Wilson strawberry, will reveal lour sets of parts in the flower. 

 In the center is a number of small light green parts, iorrning a 

 rounded mass. This is the portion that becomes the fruit. Sur- 

 rounding this central part are a number of little yellow organs, 

 each borne on a tiny stem. These are the anthers and they con- 

 tain the fertilizing material of the flower. Just without the an- 

 thers are the five white petals, and behind or underneath these 

 will be found the green scales that form the calyx. Every 

 variety of strawberry that has these four sets of parts is called a 

 perfect variety and will produce fruit when planted alone. 



But if we examine the Crescent strawberry we find that the 

 second set named, the anthers, are not present or are abortive; 

 that is, the Crescent flower does not contain any fertilizing ma- 

 terial, and hence this variety is "imperfect" and will need to 

 have a perfect kind planted with it in order to produce fruit. It 

 is necessar}^ to keep these facts in mind in planting a straw- 

 berry bed. I have always had good success by setting first a 

 row of perfect-flowered sort, like Wilson, then two rows of an 

 imperfect sort like Crescent, then a row of perfect-flowered sort, 

 followed by two rows of imperfect, etc. As each perfect flower 

 produces a great deal more pollen than is necessary for its own 

 fertilization, the imperfect sorts are provided with pollen by 

 winds and insects which carry it from the perfect flowers. 



PLANTING AND CARE, Strawberry plants should have the 

 roots puddled, as directed for fruit trees, as soon as received from 



